Like it or not, the 23rd season of THE SIMPSONS has now begun. Being a die-hard fan of THE SIMPSONS, I have seen all of seasons 1, 21, and 22; most of seasons 2 and 20; some of season 19; and a little bit of each of the other seasons; ergo, I should be capable of making a good analysis and compare the long-running show from when it started in December of '89, to now, after its seasonLike it or not, the 23rd season of THE SIMPSONS has now begun. Being a die-hard fan of THE SIMPSONS, I have seen all of seasons 1, 21, and 22; most of seasons 2 and 20; some of season 19; and a little bit of each of the other seasons; ergo, I should be capable of making a good analysis and compare the long-running show from when it started in December of '89, to now, after its season premiere on September 21, 2011. From the looks of the 23rd season premiere, this season will not be as good as last season; however, last season's first episode wasn't all that great, but just about every other episode was. So the first episode could go either way: misleading or leading correctly. The characters in THE SIMPSONS are still evolving: the voice actors are constantly altering their vocal techniques to elicit more humor and believability, and if you look back at the Christmas special from '89 (season one, episode one), or even the original "Simpsons" shorts on THE TRACEY ULLMAN SHOW, and compare the animation and voices of those characters to what we have now, you'd certainly prefer the technical advancements we've made within 22 years. But if you were to compare the humor of the first episode ever with that of the most recent episode, the scale would tip more toward 1989. That's surely not to say that this show isn't funny anymore, though; I'm actually surprised that even after 22 years, Homer's stupidity (and other gags) has never failed to make us laugh.…Expand